Last weekend saw the very first episode of the brand new series, The Last of Us, dropped on HBO Max. A series premiere that fans and critics have fell in love with. It has gotten strong reviews all around and was watched by 4.7 million viewers on it’s first day, the second-biggest viewership for HBO since 2010. While I still haven’t seen it myself since I don’t own HBO Max anymore and I’m not gonna pirate it, that looks to be the general consensus as far as I’m aware. However, when there’s an adaption of a video game that is transition into a show or movie, the big looming questions is always asked from articles everywhere. The kind of questions that have honestly become redundant because of how inaccurate it is.
Those questions being whether this certain adaption will finally be the one that breaks the so- called video game adaption curse and whether this will be the first actual “good” video game adaption? Even when an adaption gets positively received by fans or critics, this question always tend to get asked every time, almost as if the previous ones that people were raving about never existed at all? It’s a never ending repetitive cycle that constantly rewrites history. It also doesn’t help that Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann utter that exact same phrase when promoting the series.
I once stated in my Uncharted movie review last year that there’s basically two ways which an adaption of a video game can work well. 1.) It has to be a medium that is not exclusively based off a video game but it’s ultimately ABOUT video games. 2.) It has to be a medium based around a certain genre or sub-genre that the games are based off of instead of being strictly a faithful adaption of the games. However, there is one more way I forgot to add that is arguably the most important one. 3.) They have to work as more than just games but also as compelling stories in their own right. These are reasons why prior video game adaptations has failed and why more recent adaptions have worked as of late. So much so that I think it’s time to stop implying about this video game adaptation curse saying and see that these can work with the right property and right material to back it up with.
As much as there are plenty of folks that are gonna praised The Last of Us series as being the Batman Begins or Iron Man of video game adaptions, as in the one that will kick the doors open for plenty other video game studios to try to give their successful IPs a try on the big screen or on a streaming service, I would argue this is when they will reach their peak. A peak that is actually been building up for a few years now that I think it’s fair to take notice of and give credit where it’s due. What exactly has been that build up do you ask? I said you have to go back to six to seven years ago.
I would argue that 2016-2017 was the last truly bad time for video game adaptions with the releases of Angry Birds, Warcraft, Assassin’s Creed, and especially Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. Although it was arguably the time where studios were trying to take their video game adaptions a little more seriously and make them work in movie form, all four of these failed to even come close to meeting a single one of the three definitions I previously mentioned of what makes a good video game adaption. They either went too far in one direction or too far in the other to completely failed as adaptions or even just stand-alone pictures. What might have been seen as the nail on the coffin for video game adaptions, it honestly was more of the beginning of the end of lackluster video game adaptions.
2018 saw the releases of Tomb Raider and Rampage, two adaptions that were FAR from perfect but was mostly a step in the right direction for video game adaptions. Even if it suffer from trying to pull too much from the source material, they were entertaining enough where it work as simple popcorn entertainment. It shows a glimmer of how video game adaptions these can work. Mostly if you just play in the right sandbox of other successful genres/sub-genres and carry enough material from the games, then that might just enough to carry a feature film. This ended up being just a glimmer to a much birther picture ahead.
2019 was even better with the likes of Pokemon: Detective Pikachu and Angry Birds 2, the first two video game movies to be given a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. These were 100% proof that these adaption can work outside of it’s core fanbase or being necessarily “critic” proof, they can work (somewhat) as critical darling or as mainstream audience entertainment as well. You don’t have to sacrifice one end or the other. They were sweet, funny, heartfelt, and was able to take elements of the source material that is able to work in movie form while (mostly) leaving out things that didn’t work. Not slam dunks but another step in the right direction. Of course, this wave of success would only continue the next year or even the next few years after that, mostly thanks to a little blue hedgehog and his furry friends.
After being delayed due to backlash over the character designs, Sonic the Hedgehog finally made his way onto the big screen in 2020. It made just enough money and warrant enough praise from fans and critics that a sequel got greenlighted, which would come out just two years later. A sequel which many would argue that not only was it better than the first one but possibly the best video game movie ever made. One that was able to add in fan-favorite characters such as Tails and Knuckles along with corporating more elements from the game such as the Chaos Emeralds and still have it work as it’s own things that both fans and mainstream audiences could enjoy.
This had to be a sign that the video game adaption curse is now a myth. Sure, other adaptions that came out recently such as Monster Hunter, Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, and Uncharted might have been met with a middled to negative response but even then, 1.) those were all either in development hell for years or was rushed out so quickly that they had a very slim chance of working and 2.) the success of the Sonic movies was so big for video game adaptions that it ultimately didn’t matter. However, there is one more adaption that it’s worth mentioning. A series on Netflix that has been so well acclaimed from just about anyone that has watched it. A show which as of right now, has a perfect 100% approval critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an audience score right around the mid to high 90s.
While Netflix also has had another successful video game adaption series with Cuphead, there hasn’t been one great than that of Arcane. A series that even at the time it came out in 2021, was automatically declared to be the best adaption for a video game to date. It was able to bring the things that fans loved about the games such as the character, lore, and world building and make it worth not only as a faithful adaption but also one that can work greatly for those who are unfamiliar with it’s source material. A series which set the record as Netflix’s highest-rated series at the time within a week of its premiere, ranked first on the Netflix Top 10 Chart in 52 countries, and ranked second on the chart in the United States. It also became the first ever streaming series to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program and even won an Annie Award for Best General Audience Animated Television Broadcast Production.
That right there is good enough to declare this curse for video game adaptions over. While there have been bad ones along the way and more will come our way, the ones that are good will stand strong and should not be overlooked for how successful they are. In recent years, with the amount of quality video game adaptions we are receiving, it might be time to stop doubting and instead give these kind of adaptions the benefit of the doubt. It didn’t start with The Last of Us series, it has been working it’s way for the past few years and at long last, has been finally able to climb to the very top of the mountain.
Don’t take this piece as me trying to devalue the success that The Last of Us series will clearly have along with it’s impact that it will have on future video game adaptions. What I’m trying to say is that it’s okay to admit that an adaption of a video game in movie or show form can actually be good. It’s okay to give credit where it’s due to the good ones of these and not just bluntly ignore them because of the inevitable bad ones that has and will come along the way. Let’s not just give all the credit to The Last Of Us or Arcane while giving zero to all the others that came before them because it’s top tier in these forms of adaption.
The point I’m trying to make in all of this is that I think it’s time to admit that this so-called video game adaption curse is broken and we shouldn’t have needed The Last Of Us to confirm that. The proof was right in front of us the whole time. Perhaps now the discussion isn’t shouldn’t be on whether or not that the video game adaption curse is broken but more on whether or not it has fully reached it’s peak thanks to The Last of Us. That is a discussion about video game adaption that is well worth having.
Now, bring on the Super Mario Bros movie!
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